Pace woman claims she was tracked by unknown device, warns others

Rochelle Stokes was going about her normal routine of hauling her kids to activities and running errands Jan. 7 when she received an unsettling notification on her phone.

“I was at my son’s flag football, and when I got home, I got a notification on my phone that an unknown accessory had been tracking my location,” Stokes, 33, said.

The Pace resident said she could see where an unknown device had pinged her location at specific times that evening while at her son’s practice, when she stopped at the Dollar General and later when her vehicle was parked at home for the night.

Stokes was baffled by what device her phone was detecting. There were no other accessories on her person or in her vehicle at the time of the tracking. She also saw that others had posted on social media about the same thing happening to them in Pace recently.

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Out of caution, Stokes contacted the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office to report the incident.

Public Information Officer Sgt. Rich Aloy said the Sheriff’s Office has not received many reports of unauthorized use of GPS tracking devices.

“It’s not anything new,” Aloy said. “The technology has been around for a long time.”

Bluetooth tracking devices have grown in popularity in recent years as a simple solution to keep up with important items. The Apple AirTag and Tile, for instance, are widely available and cost as little as $20 to $30.

“These were made for good things,” Aloy said. “You can connect it to your luggage or your wallet or use it to find the remote when it gets lost."

The downside to the technology is that the tiny GPS trackers have become something used by stalkers and human traffickers to follow unsuspecting victims. These tiny discs, some of them just over an inch in diameter, can be easily attached to the victim’s vehicle or dropped into a bag or pocket.

Stokes said her boyfriend thoroughly searched her vehicle for the device, but never found it. She added that they drove around for an hour to see if she was still being tracked, and it seemed they no longer were.

“We’re thinking that it fell off my vehicle while we were driving around,” Stokes said.

Every smart phone has the ability for the user to set privacy and location settings to avoid unauthorized tracking.

Aloy said people should stay vigilant of their surroundings when out in public. Anyone who suspects they are being tracked illegally should change up their driving pattern and file a report with law enforcement.

“You don’t ever think something like that will happen to you,” Stokes said. “To think somebody is watching you is unnerving.”

What to do if you get an alert that an AirTag or Find My network accessory is with you

According to Apple, AirTag is designed to discourage unwanted tracking. If someone else’s AirTag finds its way into your belongings, your iPhone will notice it’s traveling with you and send you an alert. After a while, if you still haven’t found it, the AirTag will start playing a sound to let you know it’s there.

If you see an "Item Detected Near You" message on an iPhone or iPad:

  • Tap the message.

  • Tap "Continue." If you need help finding the AirTag or Find My network accessory, tap "Play Sound." Notably, if the AirTag is within range of the person who registered it, you won't be able to play a sound.

  • You can tap "Learn About This AirTag" to see its serial number if the owner marked it as lost.

  • To disable the AirTag or Find My network accessory and stop sharing your location, tap "Instructions to Disable" and follow the onscreen steps. If you feel your safety is at risk, contact your local law enforcement, who can work with Apple. You might need to provide the AirTag, Find My network accessory, or the device's serial number.

If you use an Android device, you can download the Tracker Detect app from the Google Play Store. Tracker Detect looks for item trackers within Bluetooth range that are separated from their owner and that are compatible with Apple’s Find My network. These include AirTag and compatible item trackers that use the Find My network. If you think someone is using an AirTag or another item tracker to track your location, you can scan to try to find it. If the app detects an AirTag or compatible item tracker near you for at least 10 minutes, you can play a sound to help locate it.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pace woman claims she was tracked by unknown gps device